1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to procedures and apparatus to assist in installing and positioning a blood pump such as a left ventricular assist device, right ventricular assist device, total artificial heart, or other devices. More specifically, the present invention relates to methods and apparatus for rapidly cannulating a heart to allow connection to such devices.
2. Description of Related Art
Historically, many treatments for severe forms of heart disease involved some form of open-heart surgery. Open-heart surgeries are historically costly, and generally require extended periods of convalescence. In addition, open-heart surgeries often required either large transfusions of blood to a patient, or the banking of the patient's blood for months in advance due to the high amount of blood loss often involved in the surgery.
In more recent years, in heart surgery, as in many other surgical procedures, efforts have been made to discover faster, less invasive methods which require smaller incisions into a patient's chest cavity and less loss of blood. Such procedures often reduce the recovery time associated with a surgery, and may also improve the survival rate associated with the surgery. In these procedures, the use of specialized tools and procedures drew a new wave of attention to taking special care to prevent complications.
One specific area of concern was complications stemming from the introduction of particles such as air bubbles, clotted blood, or small pieces of tissue, into the bloodstream of the patient. Such debris may travel through the circulatory system and lodge in narrower vessels of tissues such as the brain, cutting off blood circulation. These “emboli” may cause severe complications in a patient, in some cases including death.
Current procedures for heart surgeries including the implantation of left ventricular assist devices (LVAD), right ventricular assist devices (RVAD), total artificial hearts (TAH), as well as other devices, require major incursions into the patient's body and circulatory system. Generally, the patient's heart has been accessed through the sternum. Such surgery exposes the patient to a substantial risk of complications such as introduction of air into the circulatory system, bleeding, and air emboli. Such complications may result in serious patient injury, or even death. Thus, there is a need in the art for methods and apparatus for cannulating the heart and attaching a heart assist/replacement device that minimize the risk of introducing air into the patient's circulatory system, and also reduce the high loss of blood incident to such procedures.
Accordingly, it would be an advantage in the art to provide an apparatus for rapidly coring a body part such as the heart with minimal blood loss. It would be a further improvement to provide methods of using such an apparatus to core such a body part. It would also be an improvement in the art to provide a device for remotely cannulating a body part, including an apparatus for remotely cannulating a heart to permit installation of a heart assist or replacement device. It would be still another improvement in the art to provide methods for using such a device. It would also be an improvement in the art to provide various isolation valves to allow coring and/or cannulation of a body part while preventing the introduction of air emboli into the circulatory system of the patient, while preventing excessive loss of blood. It would also be an improvement in the art to provide methods and apparatus for connecting or disconnecting a device to a cannula already in the system without allowing excessive blood loss or the introduction of air.
Such methods and apparatus are disclosed herein.